It’s always interesting running a race for the first time. Quite a few of the races I see have been around for a while and they’re familiar to me. There’s something comfortable about the familiarity of the venue and the course, but we all like some surprises now and again, like a race course we haven’t run, walked or even driven before.

That was the case with today’s Friends of Earth Fare 5k. It’s a new race and it featured some territory around the River Arts District in Asheville that hasn’t been trampled by racers in the past. Two characteristics of the race today brought out plenty of participants and plenty of speedsters. The race was part of the Asheville Track Club Grand Prix Series and featured CASH prizes.

The temperatures were good for running, right around 50 degrees, but quite breezy. The sun was just starting to peak over the rooftops of former industrial buildings in the River Arts District when we lined up for the start while the shuttle buses hustled to get themselves out of the way to provide clear passage.

The course starts largely flat but as we approached the end of the first mile the first long hill kicked in. The course included several long uphill pulls, which of course are repaid in the form of long, fast downhill sprints. All things considered, it’s a reasonably challenging course. It’s not as tough as something like the Run for Autism 5k, but it’s much more challenging than something like the Turkey Trot. The good news is that there’s a fast, mostly downhill finish. So if you’ve saved up just a pinch of energy after you crest the final, long uphill stretch, you can bust it open and finish tall.

Congratulations to Anthony Famiglietti (with a smokin’ hot 4:54 pace) as first overall and first male. Congratulations to Amber Reece-Young as first female. Click here for age groups. Following are overall results, courtesy of Lee Timing.